PUBLIC

SAP HANA Platform 2.0 SPS 00

Document Version: 1.0 – 2016-11-30

SAP HANA Analytics Catalog (BIMC Views)

Reference
Content

1 Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2 BIMC Tables and Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2.1 View BIMC_CUBES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

2.2 Table BIMC_ALL_CUBES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2.3 View BIMC_ALL_AUTHORIZED_CUBES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.4 View BIMC_REPORTABLE_VIEWS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.5 Table BIMC_DIMENSIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2.6 Table BIMC_HIERARCHIES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2.7 Table BIMC_LEVELS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2.8 View BIMC_MEASURES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

2.9 Table BIMC_MEMBERS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

2.10 View BIMC_DIMENSION_VIEW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

2.11 View BIMC_ATTRIBUTE_RELATIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

2.12 Table BIMC_VARIABLE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

2.13 View BIMC_ALL_VARIABLES_VIEW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

2.14 Table BIMC_VARIABLE_RANGE_DEFAULTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

2.15 Table BIMC_VARIABLE_ASSIGNMENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

2.16 View BIMC_VARIABLE_VIEW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

2.17 Table BIMC_VARIABLE_MAPPING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

2.18 Table BIMC_VARIABLE_VALUE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

2.19 Table BIMC_VARIABLE_ODBO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

2.20 BIMC_SOURCES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

3 Consuming Views With Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

3.1 Main Variable and Parameter Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

3.2 SAP HANA SQL Syntax for Passing Parameters and Variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

3.3 SAP HANA MDX Syntax for Passing Parameters and Variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

3.4 Default Values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

3.5 Expressions as Special Default Values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

3.6 Value Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

3.7 Passing and Mapping of Variables and Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

SAP HANA Analytics Catalog (BIMC Views) Reference

2 PUBLIC Content
1 Overview

The SAP HANA Analytics Catalog consists of tables and views with the prefix BIMC located in the schema
_SYS_BI. It contains metadata required by analytic clients such as Analysis Office and Business Objects Cloud.
The metadata is also required for access via MDX.

The SAP HANA Analytics Catalog is populated with metadata when the following analytic models are deployed:

● Calculation views
● Analytic views
● Attribute views (the column CUBE_NAME is filled in with the '$ATTRIBUTE' value for these models)

This catalog can be seen as an analytic extension to the database catalog (schema SYS). However, it also
contains some additional information, like the data type of attributes, so that analytic clients do not need to
read the database catalog as well..

The structure of the analytic catalog is close to that of the ODBO schema rowset specification that can be
found at:

● MDX standard Using Schema Rowsets in OLE DB for OLAP

● SQL Server 2012 including specific extensions: OLE DB for OLAP Schema Rowsets

From SP11 onwards most of the views can be queried without the MDX prefix. In such cases, use the schema
_SYS_BI, as shown in the following example:

Sample Code

SELECT * FROM _SYS_BI.BIMC_DIMENSIONS

The following tables still need to be queried with the MDX prefix because they depend not only on the
metadata but on the data as well:

● BIMC_HIERARCHIES
● BIMC_LEVELS
● BIMC_MEMBERS

Sample Code

MDX SELECT * FROM BIMC_HIERARCHIES where CUBE_NAME = 'MyCube'

Note
We recommend not to use the schema "_SYS_BI" when the statements are prefixed with MDX. From SPS12
onwards, the MDX prefix is required only for HIERARCHIES, LEVLES, and MEMBERS.

SAP HANA Analytics Catalog (BIMC Views) Reference

Overview PUBLIC 3
2 BIMC Tables and Views

The following sections provide an overview of BIMC tables and views.

2.1 View BIMC_CUBES

A view of the BIMC_ALL_CUBES table with restriction on INTERNAL_CUBE = 0. Displaying only externally
visible views (cubes). The BIMC_CUBES view lists only those views for which the user has select privileges, so
the list of cubes displayed to the end user can be restricted by using SQL privileges. Relevant columns that
need to be requested to get repository texts in column DESCRIPTION for versions below SPS10: CUBE_NAME
and CATALOG_NAME

2.2 Table BIMC_ALL_CUBES

This table contains one header entry for each deployed view (a cube or a view enabled for multidimensional
reporting). The columns CATALOG_NAME, SCHEMA_NAME and CUBE_NAME have the same semantics and
are included in all the other tables. This table is currently not accessible with the MDX prefix. Attribute views
do not appear in it.

Note
This table is currently not accessible with the MDX prefix. Attribute views do not appear in it.

Table 1:
Column Description

CUBE_ID Unique identifier for the view (this ID is not stable and is only
used for internal purposes)

CATALOG_NAME REPO 1: Package of the view. HDI: <runtime con­

tainer>.<namespace>. For example, RTC1.sap.fi. In case of
free-style names, just <runtime container>, for example
RTC1.

SCHEMA_NAME Deployment schema. For XSC, it is be filled in with the de­

ployment schema _SYS_BIC. For XSA or HDI, it contains the
name of the runtime container.

CUBE_NAME Name of the view (analytic view, calculation view)

SAP HANA Analytics Catalog (BIMC Views) Reference

4 PUBLIC BIMC Tables and Views
 Column Description

QUALIFIED_NAME Available from SP11 (for HDI). Contains the full qualified
name (including namespace, if configured) of an HDI-based
view - for example, sap.fi::CostCenter. Contains null for
Repo 1 views.

CUBE_TYPE It is always 'CUBE', as required by MS Excel (ODBO clients).

HDI: Contains the data category 'DIMENSION' for views of
type DIMENSION, 'CUBE' for views of type CUBE, and 'DE­
FAULT' for views with an empty data category.

CUBE_GUID Always NULL (deprecated)

CREATED_ON Contains the same time stamp as LAST_SCHEMA_UPDATE.

MDX standard rowset: Should contain the time stamp when
the cube was created (activated for the first time)

LAST_SCHEMA_UPDATE Time stamp of the last activation of the cube

SCHEMA_UPDATED_BY Contains the user name that last activated the cube

LAST_DATA_UPDATE Contains the same time stamp as LAST_SCHEMA_UPDATE.

MDX standard rowset: Should contain the time stamp when
the low-level data was last updated or when the schema was
last updated.

DATA_UPDATED_BY Currently contains the same user as SCHEMA_UP­

DATED_BY. MDX standard rowset: Should contain the user
name that last changed the data.

DESCRIPTION Default description or label of the cube

ANNOTATIONS Any annotations for the cube. The default is NULL.

COLUMN_OBJECT Name of the catalog object (the generated column view or

table) to read the data from. The default is the schema
_SYS_BIC for this. So a cube "FM_SALES" in the package
"my_package" would have the column view
"_SYS_BIC"."my_package/FM_SALES".

COLUMN_OBJECT_TYPE Contains the type of the catalog column view:

● OLAP: OLAP View

● CALC: Calculation View
● JOIN: Join view

Note
In case an analytic view is deployed as an OLAP View with
a Calculation View on top, the type will be CALC. See
"SYS"."VIEWS"."VIEW_TYPE"

DEFAULT_SCHEMA Default schema of the cube. It is used to find, for example,

the TCUR* tables needed for currency conversion.

SAP HANA Analytics Catalog (BIMC Views) Reference

BIMC Tables and Views PUBLIC 5
Column Description

INTERNAL_CUBE INT 0=false, 1=true. This is a flag indicating whether the

cube is exposed through the MDX metadata interface. Mod­
els having this flag set to 1, are not to be consumed by multi­
dimensional clients, that means that they have DataCate­
gory set to <blank> or DIMENSION. These models still need
to be added to the BIMC tables to enable the data preview in
the studio, for example. With the following SQL (working
from SPS11 onwards) you can only select CUBEs and DI­
MENSIONs (but not views with empty data category).

Sample Code

select c.*from
_sys_bi.bimc_all_authorized_cubes
as c
left outer join
_sys_bi.bimc_all_dimensions as d
on c.catalog_name =
d.catalog_name and
c.catalog_name =
d.dimension_catalog_name and
c.cube_name =
d.cube_name and
c.cube_name =
d.dimension_name
where c.QUALIFIED_NAME is null and
( c.internal_cube = 0 or
d.is_private_attribute = 0 )
union all
select * from
_sys_bi.bimc_all_authorized_cubes
where qualified_name is not null
and cube_type in ('CUBE',
'DIMENSION');

HISTORY_ENABLED INT 0=false, 1=true. This is a flag indicating whether the

cube is history enabled. If set to true it makes sense to se­
lect the data from a certain time stamp onwards by queries
such as

SELECT ... FROM <view> AS OF UTCTI­

MESTAMP <timestamp>
For more information, see the SQL and System View refer­
ence: http://help.sap.com/hana/
sap_hana_sql_and_system_views_reference_en.pdf Chap­
ter 1.8.1.14.1

CATALOG_DESCRIPTION Description of the cube package. Displays the description

only if it differs from the package name. Not supported with
HDI.

HIERARCHIES_SQL_ENABLED INT 0 = false, 1 = true. If this flag is true, it indicates on cube

level whether all hierarchies are enabled for SQL filtering
and aggregation.

SAP HANA Analytics Catalog (BIMC Views) Reference

6 PUBLIC BIMC Tables and Views
2.3 View BIMC_ALL_AUTHORIZED_CUBES

This view contains the same columns as BIMC_ALL_CUBES but lists only the views for which the user has
SELECT privileges. It also shows views of the data category DIMENSION and DEFAULT, while BIMC_CUBES
only shows views of data category CUBE.

2.4 View BIMC_REPORTABLE_VIEWS

This view is available from HANA 2.0 SPS00 onwards. Many clients need to offer cubes and dimensions
(master data reporting) to their users. Retrieving the right rows is somewhat complicated and the view
BIMC_REPORTABLE_VIEWS returns the correct views. The view has the same columns as
BIMC_(ALL_AUTHOIRZED_)CUBES. As long as this view is not there, you can use the following select
statement from SPS11 onwards:

Sample Code

select c.* from _sys_bi.bimc_all_authorized_cubes as c

­­make sure REPO1 calc views of type dimension are added
left outer join _sys_bi.bimc_all_dimensions as d
on c.catalog_name = d.catalog_name and
c.catalog_name = d.dimension_catalog_name and
c.cube_name = d.cube_name and
c.cube_name = d.dimension_name
where c.qualified_name is null and ( c.internal_cube = 0 or
d.is_private_attribute = 0 )
­­HDI views
union all
select * from _sys_bi.bimc_all_authorized_cubes
where qualified_name is not null and cube_type in ('CUBE', 'DIMENSION')
­­add attribute views from BIMC_DIMENSIONS
union all
select
dimension_id as cube_id,
catalog_name,
schema_name,
dimension_name as cube_name,
qualified_name,
'DIMENSION' as cube_type,
null as cube_guid,
null as created_on,
last_schema_update,
null as schema_updated_by,
null as last_data_update,
null as data_updated_by,
description,
annotations,
column_object,
null as default_schema,
1 as internal_cube,
concat( concat(CATALOG_NAME, '/'), DIMENSION_NAME) as view_name,
0 as history_enabled,
null as catalog_description,
0 as hierarchies_sql_enabled
from _sys_bi.bimc_dimensions where cube_name = '$ATTRIBUTE';

SAP HANA Analytics Catalog (BIMC Views) Reference

BIMC Tables and Views PUBLIC 7
2.5 Table BIMC_DIMENSIONS

This table contains one entry for each dimension of the model, information about attribute views (in that case,
the column CUBE_NAME is filled with '$ATTRIBUTE'), and one entry for the Measures dimension.

Table 2:
Column Description

DIMENSION_ID Unique identifier for the dimension (attribute view)

CATALOG_NAME Package of the cube

SCHEMA_NAME Deployment schema. For XSC: it will be filled with the de­
ployment schema _SYS_BIC. For XSA or HDI: It contains the
name of the runtime container.

CUBE_NAME Name of the view (analytic view, calculation view)

QUALIFIED_NAME Available from SP11 (for HDI). Contains the full qualified
name (including a namespace, if configured) of an HDI-
based view - for example, sap.fi::CostCenter. Contains null
for Repo 1 views.

DIMENSION_NAME Name of the dimension

DIMENSION_UNIQUE_NAME Unique name of the dimension in MDX style, for example

[Customer]

DIMENSION_GUID Always NULL (deprecated)

DIMENSION_CAPTION Taken over from the description or label in the modeler

DIMENSION_ORDINAL Ordinal number of the model dimension as defined by the

modeler starting from 0. 0 is always [Measures].

DIMENSION_TYPE TIME = 1, MEASURES = 2, OTHER = 3

DIMENSION_CARDINALITY Number of distinct members

DEFAULT_HIERARCHY Unique name of the default hierarchy

DESCRIPTION Not used

ANNOTATIONS Not yet supported in the modeler

COLUMN_OBJECT Name of the catalog object (the generated column view or

table) from where to read the dimension or master data.
This is the dimension view in case of shared dimension or
the column view in case of local dimensions or left outer
joins. See also the comments for the field
BIMC_ALL_CUBES.COLUMN_OBJECT.

DIMENSION_CATALOG_NAME Package of the dimension

SAP HANA Analytics Catalog (BIMC Views) Reference

8 PUBLIC BIMC Tables and Views
 Column Description

IS_PRIVATE_ATTRIBUTE Contains 1 if the dimension consists just of a private attrib­

ute. This means that a local attribute is not joined to an at­
tribute view and the dimension contains just one attribute
and only the flat standard hierarchy exists.

Contains 0 if the dimension is explicitly modeled. This

means that the model is either represented by a (shared) at­
tribute view - the current view is joined to an attribute view
and all the attributes and hierarchies defined in the attribute
view are used for the dimension, or the hierarchy is explicitly
modeled as part of the current view.

LAST_SCHEMA_UPDATE Timestamp from the last activation of the dimension (the

activation of the corresponding attribute or dimension calc
view). Note that the field may be left empty for private or lo­
cal attributes.

DIMENSION_ORIGIN Describes the origin of the dimension:

● View: the dimension is defined by a shared view

● Attribute: the dimension is defined by just one attribute
<=> IS_PRIVATE_ATTRIBUTE = 1
● Hierarchy: the dimension is defined by a (local) hierar­
chy

2.6 Table BIMC_HIERARCHIES

This virtual table contains the hierarchies. The modeled hierarchies are stored here and, in addition, one
(attribute) hierarchy for each dimension attribute is created in this table automatically.

Table 3:
Column Description

HIERARCHY_ID Unique identifier for the hierarchy

CATALOG_NAME Package of the cube

SCHEMA_NAME Deployment schema. For XSC, it is be filled in with the de­

ployment schema _SYS_BIC. For XSA or HDI, it contains the
name of the runtime container.

CUBE_NAME Name of the view (analytic view, calculation view)

QUALIFIED_NAME Available from SPS11 onward (for HDI). Contains the full
qualified name (including a namespace, if configured) of an
HDI-based view - for example, sap.fi::CostCenter. Contains
null for Repo 1 views.

DIMENSION_UNIQUE_NAME Unique name of the dimension the hierarchy belongs to

SAP HANA Analytics Catalog (BIMC Views) Reference

BIMC Tables and Views PUBLIC 9
Column Description

HIERACHY_NAME Name of the hierarchy

HIERARCHY_UNIQUE_NAME Unique name of the hierarchy in MDX style, for example

[Time].[Fiscal_Year]

HIERARCHY_GUID Always NULL (deprecated)

HIERARCHY_CAPTION Description or label of the hierarchy

DIMENSION_TYPE Type of the dimension - TIME = 1, MEASURES = 2, OTHER =

3

HIERARCHY_CARDINALITY Number of distinct members - not filled in because the hier­

archy needs to be instantiated for this and the field is de­
pendent on the data

DEFAULT_MEMBER A unique name for the default member

Note
Select this column only if it is really needed. If DE­
FAULT_MEMBER is selected the hierarchies need to be
instantiated first to fulfill the query

ALL_MEMBER A unique name for ALL_MEMEBERS or NULL if there is no

name

DESCRIPTION Not used - always NULL

ANNOTATIONS Not used - always NULL

STRUCTURE Type of the hierarchy - 0 = Fully Balanced, 1 = Ragged Bal­

anced, 2 = Unbalanced, 3 = Network.

MODELED Indicator whether the hierarchy is modeled in the studio -

INT 0=false, 1=true.

HIERARCHY_VIEW Catalog name of the generated hierarchy view to read the

hierarchy data from.

Use the following SQL statement to determine the catalog

hierarchy view:

Sample Code

SELECT DISTINCT "COLUMNOBJECT_NAME"

FROM "_SYS_BI"."BIMC_PROPERTIES"
WHERE ( "HIERARCHY_UNIQUE_NAME" =
'[COPY_AT_STUDENT].[STUDENT_HIER]'
AND "CUBE_NAME" = 'AN_HIER_VI' AND
"CATALOG_NAME" =
'hanae2e.rahulj.sp5'
AND "DIMENSION_UNIQUE_NAME" =
'[COPY_AT_STUDENT]' AND
"PROPERTY_NAME" =
'HIERARCHY_VIEW' )

SAP HANA Analytics Catalog (BIMC Views) Reference

10 PUBLIC BIMC Tables and Views
 Column Description

LEAF_ATTRIBUTE Contains the attribute representing the leaf level of the hier­
archy.

● For level-based hierarchies: the attribute defining the

most granular level (the level with the biggest number)
● For parent-child hierarchies: the child attribute of the
hierarchy
● For compound hierarchies: a comma separated list of
the quoted child attributes, for example "Controllin­
gArea", "Cost center".

NODE_COLUMN_NAME Available from SPS10 onwards. Contains the view column

representing the node column of the hierarchy.

EXPRESSION_PARAMETER_NAME Available from SPS10 onwards. Contains the expression pa­

rameter name of the hierarchy.

HIERARCHY_ORIGIN Available from HANA 2.0 SPS00 onwards. Possible values

are:

● MD_USER_DEFINED = 0x0000001 - identifies user-de­

fined hierarchies
● MD_SYSTEM_ENABLED = 0x0000002 - identifies at­
tribute hierarchies
● MD_SYSTEM_INTERNAL = 0x0000004 - identifies at­
tributes with no attribute hierarchies
● A parent/child attribute hierarchy is both
MD_USER_DEFINED and MD_SYSTEM_ENABLED (=3)

ROOT_NODE_VISIBILITY Available from HANA 2.0 SPS00 onwards. Possible values

are:

● False: do not add root node

● True: add root node
● Auto: add root node, if defined

HAS_NOT_ASSIGNED_MEMBERS Available from HANA 2.0 SPS00 onwards. Possible values

are:

● 1: This is a hierarchy with the Not Assigned Member op­

tion.
● 0 or null: This is a hierarchy without the Not Assigned
Member option.

Note
The Not Assigned Member option in hierarchies in
HANA models allows MDX/MDX/InA/SQL queries
on HANA models to include booked values in facts
that have no corresponding masterdata values in
the respective hierarchies.

SAP HANA Analytics Catalog (BIMC Views) Reference

BIMC Tables and Views PUBLIC 11
BIMC_HIERARCHIES table is a virtual table. It does not exist physically. The metadata containing the results
from a "SELECT from BIMC_HIERARCHIES" statement is held inside internal data structures and a result set
for the SELECT statement is constructed from those internal data structures and not from an SQL table. Any
SQL statement issued against it goes through a minimal SQL parser inside the MDX engine, not through the
regular SQL processor. The minimal parser can perform any request required by ODBO. The ODBO
specification does not support wildcards, so the minimal SQL parser does not support them either.

The ODBO specification requires support for restrictions on the rows returned - CATALOG_NAME,
SCHEMA_NAME, CUBE_NAME, DIMENSION_UNIQUE_NAME, HIERARCHY_UNIQUE_NAME,
HIERARCHY_NAME. You can use any predicates listed here in your WHERE clause (without wildcards).

Note
A single * wildcard for "all fields" is supported but no other wildcards; otherwise you must explicitly list the
fields that you want to fetch.

Currently you must also specify a WHERE clause with at least one predicate in your SQL to constrain the
results so that you do not request all hierarchies from all dimensions in all cubes from all catalogs.

A simple ORDER BY is also allowed. The requirement is that any fields in the ORDER BY statement must be
present in the result set. For example, you cannot have the following statement because C will not be in the
results set.

Sample Code

MDX SELECT a,b FROM <a BIMC table> ORDER BY c,a,b

Note that the ODBO specification specifies that the sort order should be by CATALOG_NAME,
SCHEMA_NAME, CUBE_NAME, DIMENSION_UNIQUE_NAME, HIERARCHY_UNIQUE_NAME. The code will
return results in this order. You do not need to specify an ORDER clause unless you need any other ordering.

2.7 Table BIMC_LEVELS

This table contains the levels within the hierarchies.

Table 4:

Column Description

CATALOG_NAME Package of the cube

SCHEMA_NAME Deployment schema. For XSC, it is filled in with the deploy­

ment schema _SYS_BIC. For XSA or HDI, it contains the
name of the runtime container.

CUBE_NAME Name of the view (analytic view, calculation view)

SAP HANA Analytics Catalog (BIMC Views) Reference

12 PUBLIC BIMC Tables and Views
 Column Description

QUALIFIED_NAME Available from SPS11 onwards (for HDI). Contains the full
qualified name (including a namespace, if configured) of an
HDI-based view - for example, sap.fi::CostCenter. Contains
null for Repo 1 views.

LEVEL_ID Unique identifier for the level. (No longer exists or not sup­
ported)

DIMENSION_UNIQUE_NAME Unique name of the dimension the hierarchy belongs to

HIERARCHY_UNIQUE_NAME Unique name of the hierarchy the level belongs to

LEVEL_NAME Name of the level

LEVEL_UNIQUE_NAME Unique name of the level in MDX style. For example, [Time].
[Fiscal_Year].[Fiscal_Period]

LEVEL_GUID Always NULL (deprecated)

LEVEL_CAPTION Description of the level

LEVEL_NUMBER Number of parent levels. 0 if this is the top or 'all' level.

LEVEL_CARDINALITY Number of distinct members

LEVEL_TYPE Type of the level: 0 = Regular, 1 = All, 4 = General Time.

Time Dimension types: 20 = Year, 36 = Half-Year, 68 =

Quarter, 132 = Month, 260 = Week, 516 = Day, 772 = Hour,
1028 = Minutes, 2052 = Seconds

For more information, see http://

www.olap4j.org/2.0/api/org/olap4j/metadata/
Level.Type.html. There the values are listed in hexadecimal
code:

● MDLEVEL_TYPE_REGULAR (0x0000)
● MDLEVEL_TYPE_ALL (0x0001)
● MDLEVEL_TYPE_TIME_YEARS (0x0014)
● MDLEVEL_TYPE_TIME_HALF_YEAR (0x0024)
● MDLEVEL_TYPE_TIME_QUARTERS (0x0044)
● MDLEVEL_TYPE_TIME_MONTHS (0x0084)
● MDLEVEL_TYPE_TIME_WEEKS (0x0104)
● MDLEVEL_TYPE_TIME_DAYS (0x0204)
● MDLEVEL_TYPE_TIME_HOURS (0x0304)
● MDLEVEL_TYPE_TIME_MINUTES (0x0404)
● MDLEVEL_TYPE_TIME_SECONDS (0x0804)
● MDLEVEL_TYPE_TIME_UNDEFINED (0x1004)

DESCRIPTION Not Used

The BIMC_LEVELS table is a virtual table. It does not exist physically. The metadata containing the results
from a SELECT FROM BIMC_LEVELS statement is held inside internal data structures and a results set for the
SELECT clause is constructed from those internal data structures and not from an SQL table. Any SQL query
issued against it goes through a minimal SQL parser inside the MDX engine, not through the regular SQL

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processor. The minimal parser can carry out any request required by ODBO. The ODBO specification does not
support wildcards and the minimal SQL parser does not support them either.

The ODBO specification requires support for restrictions on the rows returned - CATALOG_NAME,
SCHEMA_NAME, CUBE_NAME, DIMENSION_UNIQUE_NAME, HIERARCHY_UNIQUE_NAME, LEVEL_NAME,
LEVEL_UNIQUE_NAME. You can use any predicates listed here in your WHERE clause (without any wildcards).

Note
A single * wildcard for "all fields" is supported but no other wildcards. If you do not use that wildcard, you
must explicitly list the fields that you want to fetch.

Currently you must also specify a WHERE clause with at least one predicate in your SQL too, so you cannot
request all levels of all hierarchies of all dimensions of all cubes.

A simple ORDER BY is also allowed. The requirement is that any fields in the ORDER BY must be present in the
results set. For example, you cannot have the following statement because "c" is not in the result set.

Sample Code

MDX SELECT a,b FROM <a BIMC table> ORDER BY c,a,b

According to the ODBO specification, the sorting order should be by CATALOG_NAME, SCHEMA_NAME,
CUBE_NAME, DIMENSION_UNIQUE_NAME, HIERARCHY_UNIQUE_NAME, LEVEL_NUMBER. The code returns
results in this order. You do not need to specify an ORDER clause, unless you need another type of ordering.

2.8 View BIMC_MEASURES

Contains the information about the measures in a cube.

Table 5:
Column Description

CATALOG_NAME Package of the cube

SCHEMA_NAME Deployment schema. For XSC, it is be filled in with the de­

ployment schema _SYS_BIC. For XSA or HDI, it contains the
name of the runtime container.

CUBE_NAME Name of the view (analytic view, calculation view)

QUALIFIED_NAME Available from SPS11 (for HDI). Contains the full qualified
name (including a namespace, if configured) of an HDI-
based view - for example, sap.fi::CostCenter. Contains null
for Repo 1 views.

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 Column Description

MEASURE_ID Unique identifier for the measure. Note that this is not the
same as the MEMBER_ID for the measure).

Note
The field no longer exists and is not supported. Please do
not request this field in your SQL statements.

MEASURE_NAME Name of the measure

MEASURE_UNIQUE_NAME Unique name of the measure in MDX style, for example

[Measures].[store_sales]

MEASURE_CAPTION Description of the measure

MEASURE_GUID Always NULL (deprecated)

MEASURE_AGGREGATOR Describes the type of aggregation for the measure:

● 1 = SUM (= MDMEASURE_AGGR_SUM)
● 2 = COUNT (= MDMEASURE_AGGR_COUNT),
● 3 = MIN (= MDMEASURE_AGGR_MIN)
● 4 = MAX (= MDMEASURE_AGGR_MAX)

Note
For more information, see MEASURES Rowset

Clients need to use this aggregation function for the meas­

ure when querying the measure via SQL:

Select ATTRIBUTE1..., sum( MEASURE1),

max(MEASURE2)...
from CUBE
group by ATTRIBUTE1...

Note
This does not always mean that the client can use this
aggregation function to further aggregate the measure
because for calculated measures and for counters this
usually results in wrong numbers. Client aggregation is
only allowed if MEASURE_AGGREGATABLE = 1.

MEASURE_AGGREGATABLE INTEGER:

● 1: The measure may be aggregated further by the cli­

ents with the aggregation function listed in the previous
column MEASURE_AGGREGATOR.
● 0:The measure may not be aggregated further by the
clients because this would lead to wrong results.

DATA_TYPE OLEDB representation of the measure type. 3 = Int, 5 = Dou­

ble, 131 = Numeric and so on

NUMERIC_PRECISION Maximum precision of the measure

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Column Description

NUMERIC_SCALE NULL except for DATA_TYPE 131 where the scale of the
measure is stored

MEASURE_UNITS Indicates what string should be appended by the clients to

indicate the unit of measure (contains the same value as
BIMC_MEASURES.UNIT_TYPE)

● If the measure has a fixed unit or currency assigned, it

contains this unit (for example, EUR, KG)
● If the measure has a parameter or another view column
assigned for determining the target currency or unit of
measure, it contains an empty string.

DESCRIPTION Label of the measure

UNIT_TYPE Contains the currency code (for example, USD, EUR and so
on), if the measure has a fixed unit or currency; has same
value as BIMC_DIMENSION_VIEW-UNIT_TYPE.

UNIT_COLUMN_NAME Contains the name of the attribute/column containing the

unit/currency in case the measure has a variable unit/
currency. This happens in the following two cases:

● The target unit/currency is defined by another column

of the view. In that case this column is contained in
UNIT_COLUMN_NAME.
● The target unit/currency is determined by a parameter.
In that case UNIT_COLUMN_NAME contains the gener­
ated target currency column which has the name
<measure>.CURRENCY. This column is added to the
view definition at deploy time. At run time the engine
fills it in with the result unit/currency (null in case of er­
rors or the value of the parameter). The column has the
same value as BIMC_DIMENSION_VIEW-UNIT_COL­
UMN_NAME.

MEASURE_DISPLAY_FOLDER The path to be used when displaying the measure on the

user interface. Folder names are separated by a semicolon.
Nested folders are indicated by a backslash (\). For more in­
formation, see measure_display_folder in
MDSCHEMA_MEASURES Rowset .

A measure can be assigned to several folders. For example,

if a measure is assigned to the foder ABC and the subfolder
XYZ of MNQ, the value of the property will be ABC;MNQ
\XYZ.

The BIMC_MEASURES table is a virtual table. It does not exist physically. The metadata containing the results
from a SELECT FROM BIMC_MEASURES statement is held inside internal data structures. A set of results for
the SELECT clause is constructed from those internal data structures and not from an SQL table. Any SQL
query issued against it goes through a minimal SQL parser inside the MDX engine, not through the regular SQL
processor. The minimal parser can carry out any request required by ODBO. The ODBO specification does not
support wildcards and the minimal SQL parser does not support them either.

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The ODBO specification requires support for restrictions on the rows returned - CATALOG_NAME,
SCHEMA_NAME, CUBE_NAME, MEASURE_NAME, MEASURE_UNIQUE_NAME. You can use any predicates
listed here in your WHERE clause (without any wildcards).

Note
A single * wildcard for "all fields" is supported but no other wildcards. If you do not use that wildcard, you
must explicitly list the fields that you want to fetch.

Currently, you must also specify a WHERE clause with at least one predicate in your SQL too, so you cannot
request all levels of all hierarchies of all dimensions of all cubes.

A simple ORDER BY statement is also allowed. The requirement is that any fields in the ORDER BY statement
must be present in the results set. For example, you cannot have the following statement because "c" is not in
the result set.

Sample Code

MDX SELECT a,b FROM <a BIMC table> ORDER BY c,a,b

According to the ODBO specification, the sorting order should be by CATALOG_NAME, SCHEMA_NAME,
CUBE_NAME, and MEASURE_NAME. The code returns results in this order. You do not need to specify an
ORDER clause, unless you need another type of ordering.

For releases below SPS10, the relevant columns that need to be requested to get repository texts in column
MEASURE_CAPTION are CUBE_NAME, CATALOG_NAME, and MEASURE_NAME.

2.9 Table BIMC_MEMBERS

A virtual table containing details about the members of the levels within the cube.

Table 6:

Column Description

CATALOG_NAME Package of the cube

SCHEMA_NAME Deployment schema. For XSC, it is be filled in with the de­

ployment schema _SYS_BIC. For XSA or HDI, it contains the
name of the runtime container.

CUBE_NAME Name of the view (analytic view, calculation view)

QUALIFIED_NAME Available from SPS11 (for HDI). Contains the full qualified
name (including a namespace, if configured) of an HDI-
based view - for example, sap.fi::CostCenter. Contains null
for Repo 1 views.

DIMENSION_UNIQUE_NAME Unique name of the dimension to which the hierarchy be­

longs.

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Column Description

HIERARCHY_UNIQUE_NAME Unique name of the hierarchy that the member belongs to.

LEVEL_UNIQUE_NAME Unique name of the level the member belongs to

LEVEL_NUMBER Level number of the level the member belongs to

MEMBER_ORDINAL An incrementing number representing the position of the

member in the hierarchy

MEMBER_UNIQUE_NAME Unique name of the member in MDX style. For example,

[Measures].[Store_Sales].

MEMBER_TYPE Type of the member: 1 = Regular, 2 = All, 3 = Measure

MEMBER_GUID Always NULL - use is deprecated

MEMBER_CAPTION Description of the member

CHILDREN_CARDINALITY Number of children of the member. 0 means the member is

a leaf item.

PARENT_LEVEL The level number of the member's parent member (1 if the

member has no parent)

PARENT_UNIQUE_NAME The name of the member's parent or NULL if it does not

have one

PARENT_COUNT The number of parents the member has. 1 row for the mem­
ber will be present for each parent. Currently, only 0 or 1 pa­
rents are valid.

DESCRIPTION Not used

MEMBER_KEY For leaf children the key value of the underlying dimension
table if it exists or NULL otherwise

BIMC_MEMBERS table is a virtual table and does not exist physically exist. The meta data comprising the
results from a SELECT from BIMC_MEMBERS statement is held inside internal data structures. A result set for
the SELECT statement is constructed from those internal data structures and not from an SQL table. Any SQL
issued against it goes through a minimal SQL parser inside the MDX engine, not through the regular SQL
processor. The minimal parser can carry out any request required by ODBO. The ODBO specification does not
support wildcards and the minimal SQL parser does not support them either.

The ODBO specification requires support for restrictions on the rows returned. For more information, see
Restrictions in the MEMBERS Rowset

You can use any predicates listed here in your WHERE clause. In that particular case, there is no wildcard
support within SQL, so you need to explicitly list the fields that you want to fetch.

You must also specify a WHERE clause with at least one predicate in your SQL statement. A single * wildcard
for "all fields" is supported.

A simple ORDER BY is also allowed. The requirement is that any fields in the ORDER BY clause must be
present in the result set. For example, you cannot have the statement below because "c" will not be in the
result set.

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 Sample Code

MDX SELECT a,b FROM <a BIMC table> ORDER BY c,a,b

According to the ODBO specification, the order of sorting should be by CATALOG_NAME, SCHEMA_NAME,
CUBE_NAME, DIMENSION_UNIQUE_NAME, HIERARCHY_UNIQUE_NAME, LEVEL_UNIQUE_NAME,
LEVEL_NUMBER, and MEMBER_ORDINAL. The code returns results in this order and you do not need to
specify an ORDER clause, unless you need another type of sorting.

Note
In order to calculate the members, you need to pass the parameter values entered by the user. For that
purpose, use the following syntax:

mdx select * from BIMC_MEMEBERS ('PLACEHOLDER' = ('$$P1$$', 'Value1'),

'PLACEHOLDER' = ('$$P2$$', 'Value2'),
'PLACEHOLDER' = ('$$P_ROOT_NODE1$$', 'Value3') )
where CATALOG_NAME = 'mini' and CUBE_NAME = 'CV_SALES' and
HIERARCHY_UNIQUE_NAME = '[H1].[H1]'

2.10 View BIMC_DIMENSION_VIEW

This is a virtual view of BIMC_PROPERTIES with the filter WHERE PROPERTY_TYPE = 4 and COLUMN_FLAG =
'Dimension Attribute'. It contains one row with the most prominent properties for each attribute and each
measure of the cube. This view is not known to the database catalog, so you need to use the MDX prefix when
querying it.

Table 7:

Column Description

CATALOG_NAME Package of the cube

CUBE_NAME Name of the cube

QUALIFIED_NAME Available from SPS11 (for HDI). Contains the full qualified
name (including a namespace, if configured) of an HDI-
based view - for example, sap.fi::CostCenter. Contains null
for Repo 1 views.

DIMENSION_UNIQUE_NAME Unique name of the dimension

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Column Description

COLUMNOBJECT_NAME The catalog name of the view to get the value help from. The
format is "<schema>"."<name>".

This is the column view which is generated either for the di­
mension (attribute or calculation) view for attributes origi­
nating from the dimension, or for the cube (analytic or cal­
culation) view for attributes coming from the data founda­
tion or fact table.

However, if you have a left outer join to the dimension view,

it also contains the column view generated for the analytic
or calculation view.

The modeler can maintain an arbitrary value help view (ta­

ble) for each attribute. In case such a view is maintained for
the attribute, its catalog name is listed in this field.

DIMENSION_COLUMN_NAME The column name in the value help view stored in COLUM­
NOBJECT_NAME. Since aliasing dimension attributes inside
the star join are allowed, this name might be different from
COLUMN_NAME. The name is unique only within the value
help view stored in COLUMNOBJECT_NAME.

If a separate value help view (table) is maintained for the at­

tribute, the column name to get the value help from is listed
in this field.

COLUMNOBJECT_REPOSITORY_FQN Contains the fully qualified name of the COLUMNOB­

JECT_NAME in case it is a repository object.

Use this name to query BIMC_DIMENSION_VIEW in order to

find out the description field of DIMENSION_COL­
UMN_NAME in COLUMNOBJECT_NAME. If such a descrip­
tion field exists, it should be displayed in the value help in
addition to the DIMENSION_COLUMN_NAME.

Contains null in case COLUMNOBJECT_NAME is a pure cat­

alog object.

COLUMN_NAME The column name in the main view, that is the view name in
BIMC_CUBES.COLUMN_OBJECT. This name is globally
unique in the cube (might be aliased).

COLUMN_TYPE Either "NULL" or the column engine data type. For example
66 = fixed, 73 = int, 83 = string, and so on.

COLUMN_TYPE_D The (internal) column engine data type description (FIXED,

INT, STRING, and so on). Please use the official COL­
UMN_SQL_TYPE wherever possible.

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 Column Description

COLUMN_SQL_TYPE The SQL type of the column as in the official SQL data type
reference.

In case you need to specify length for the data type, you
need to add it in brackets without any spaces. For example,
VARCHAR(12), FLOAT(2) or ALPHANUM(66). In case a pre­
cision and scale is specified, it is added in brackets without
spaces separated by a comma, for example DECIMAL(12,2)
where 12 is the precision and 2 the scale.

COLUMN_CAPTION The label (or caption) of the column. Use this (language-de­
pendent) text to populate the caption or the label of the col­
umn or the attribute.

DESC_OBJECT_NAME The catalog name of the view to look up the dimension de­
scription attribute (format "<schema>"."<name>"). Not rel­
evant for HANA views because it contains always the same
view as COLUMNOBJECT_NAME. It is relevant for CDS ana­
lytics because texts for dimension attributes can be re­
trieved from separate text tables or views.

DESC_NAME The column name of the description attribute in the main

view - that is, the view name in BIMC_CUBES.COLUMN_OB­
JECT. This name is globally unique in the cube (may be
aliased).

In case a separate value help view (or table) is maintained,

DESC_NAME contains the same column name as COL­
UMN_NAME.

DIMENSION_DESC_NAME The column name of the dimension description attribute in

the value help view stored in COLUMNOBJECT_NAME.
Since we allow aliasing dimension attributes inside a cube
this name might be different from DESC_NAME. This name
is only unique within the value help view stored in COLUM­
NOBJECT_NAME.

From SP09: In case a separate value help view (table) is

maintained for the attribute the column name to get the de­
scriptions for the values from will be listed in this field.

DESC_TYPE Internal attribute type of the dimension description attrib­

ute. For example, 66 = fixed, 73 = int, 83 = string.

DESC_TYPE_D See COLUMN_TYPE_D for the description column

DESC_COLUMN_SQL_TYPE See COLUMN_SQL_TYPE for the description column

KEY_COLUMN_NAME The value of the COLUMN_NAME if it is key of COL­

UMN_OBJECTNAME or NULL if not

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Column Description

DISPLAY_COLUMN_NAME The value of the COLUMN_NAME if this column should not

be used for drilling down or navigation in tools like AAO. The
name of the column stems from the BW notion of a display-
only attribute - it can only be displayed as a detail of its In­
foObject or Dimension, but it cannot be used for drilling
down (slicing and dicing).

DIMENSION_CAPTION Description of the dimension

DIMENSION_TYPE Dimension type: TIME = 1, MEASURES = 2, OTHER = 3

MEASURE_AGGREGATOR NULL if not a measure or how this measure should be ag­

gregated

MEASURE_AGGREGATABLE INTEGER:

● NULL: if not a measure

● 1: the measure may be aggregated further by the cli­
ents with the aggregation function listed in the previous
column MEASURE_AGGREGATOR
● 0: the measure may not be aggregated further by the
clients because that would lead to wrong results. This is
the case for calculated attributes (if calculated after the
aggregation) and distinct counters.

SEMANTIC_TYPE Semantic type of the column:

● AmountValue (a measure with the semantic type

amount)
● QuantityValue (a measure with the semantic type
quantity)
● currencyCode
● unitOfMeasure
● date (can be used to indicate VARCHAR(8) fields carry
a data semantically)
● date.businessDateFrom
● date.businessDateTo
● geoLocation.longitude
● geoLocation.latitude
● geoLocation.cartoId
● geoLocation.normalizedName

MEASURE_TYPE Use is deprecated. Use column MEASURE_AGGREGATA­

BLE instead to check whether a measure may be further ag­
gregated in the client tools.

Describes how the measure is defined internally. This infor­

mation may be needed by tools for performing calculations
on top of the measure. This field contains the values re­
stricted, base, calculated and aggregatableCalculated.

INFO_OBJECT The name of the InfoObject assigned to the attribute or the

measure

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 Column Description

UNIT_COLUMN_NAME Name of the attribute or column that contains the currency

or unit in case the measure has a variable currency or unit.
This happens in the following cases:

● The (target) currency orunit is defined by another col­

umn of the view. In that case this column is contained in
UNIT_COLUMN_NAME.
● The target currency is determined by a parameter. In
that case UNIT_COLUMN_NAME in general contains
the generated target currency field. This column is
added to the view definition at deploy time. At run time
the engine fills it with the result currency unit (null in
case of errors or the value of the parameter otherwise)

UNIT_TYPE Contains the currency code (for example, USD, EUR , and so
on) in case the measure has a fixed unit or currency

CURRENCY_CONVERSION A flag indicating whether a currency conversion is defined

for the measure (in that case this field is filled with 1). If not
currency conversion is defined or if the column is an attrib­
ute the field is filled with null.

IS_PRIVATE_ATTRIBUTE A flag indicating whether the attribute is a private (local) at­

tribute (in that case this field is filled with 1). If it is a meas­
ure or a shared attribute the field is filled with 0.

MEASURE_DISPLAY_FOLDER The name of the measure display folder. For more informa­
tion, see BIMC_MEASURES.

DIMENSION_NAME Dimension name

DIMENSION_CATALOG_NAME Dimension catalog name

CONVERT_TO_EXTERNAL_FUNCTION Available from SPS12: Full qualified name of the scalar func­
tion for converting the values of this field into the external
format

CONVERT_TO_INTERNAL_FUNCTION Available from SP12: Full qualified name of the scalar func­
tion for converting the values of this field into the internal
format

CONVERSION_ORDER_PRESERVING Equals 1, if the internal or external conversion functions are

order preserving and 0, if not.

IS_TEXT_SEARCHABLE INTEGER, available from SPS12 onwards, contains 1 (true),

if the column is text searchable, that is the column is map­
ped to a table column, which is backed by a text index. It
contains 0 (false), if the column is not text searchable. The
column is a cache for SYS.CS_VIEW_COL­
UMNS.IS_TEXT_SEARCHABLE. The column contains NULL
in case the view has not been reactivated after the upgrade
to SPS12.

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Column Description

IS_FUZZY_SEARCHABLE INTEGER, contains 1 (true), if the column is fuzzy searcha­

ble via the CONTAINS SQL clause. It contains 0 (false), if the
column is not fuzzy searchable. The column is a cache for
SYS.CS_VIEW_COLUMNS.IS_FUZZY_SEARCHABLE. The
column contains NULL in case the view has not been reacti­
vated after the upgrade to SPS12.

MODELED_KEY_COLUMN INTEGER; available from SPS12 onwards; contains 1 (true),

if the column is explicitly modeled as a key column.

Note
The column may be filled in with NULL, if the model was
activated after upgrading to HANA 2.0 SPS01. This prop­
erty cannot be derived from KEY_COLUMN_NAME be­
cause it is also filled in for the first attribute in each di­
mension. In a star join, this property is inherited from the
dimension views.

2.11 View BIMC_ATTRIBUTE_RELATIONS

Contains the attribute relations defined in the models.

Table 8:
Column Key Description

CATALOG_NAME Yes Package of the cube

SCHEMA_NAME STRING

CUBE_NAME Yes Name of the cube

QUALIFIED_NAME Available from SPS11 (for HDI). Contains the full qualified name (including a
namespace, if configured) of an HDI-based view - for example, sap.fi::CostCen­
ter. Contains null for Repo 1 views.

COLUMN_NAME Yes The unique attribute or column name in the view (may be aliased and thus differ­
ent from the column name in the dimension view)

PARENT_COL­ Yes The name of the parent attribute or column. This is an attribute or column that
UMN_NAME has an n:1 relationship with the current element. For example, if two records have
the same value in COLUMN_NAME, they also have the same value for the column
in PARENT_COLUMN_NAME. The example assumes that you have a geography
dimension region, country, country_population and continent. Then you would
define a relation from country to country_population (the data must fit to this
setting). As a result the attribute country_population can be used as a hierarchy
level attribute for the level country in case a leveled hierarchy is defined on the
fields

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2.12 Table BIMC_VARIABLE

This tables contains the list of variables and parameters for each cube.

Table 9:
Column Key Type Description

CATA­ Yes STRING Package of the cube

LOG_NAME

SCHEMA_NAM STRING From SPS11 onwards: deployment schema or runtime container of

E the view

CUBE_NAME Yes STRING Name of the cube

QUALI­ STRING Available from SPS11 onwards (for HDI). Contains the full qualified
FIED_NAME name (including a namespace, if configured) of an HDI-based view -
for example, sap.fi::CostCenter. Contains null for Repo 1 views.

VARIA­ Yes STRING Name of the variable or parameter

BLE_NAME

COL­ INT Either NULL or the column engine data type. For example, 66 = fixed,
UMN_TYPE 73 = int, 83 = string, and so on.

COL­ STRING The (internal) column engine data type description (FIXED, INT,
UMN_TYPE_D STRING, and so on). Use the official COLUMN_SQL_TYPE wherever
possible.

COL­ STRING The SQL type of the parameter or variable as in the official SQL data
UMN_SQL_TYP
type reference.
E
In case you need to specify length for the data type, it is added in
brackets without any spaces. For example, VARCHAR(12), FLOAT(2)
or ALPHANUM(66). In case precision and scale need to be specified,
they are added in brackets without spaces and separated by a
comma. For example, DECIMAL(12,2) where 12 is the precision and 2
the scale.

VALUE_TYPE STRING Specifies how the values for the variable are determined. Same val­
ues as the EMF enumeration: empty / Currency / UnitOfMeasure /
Date / AttributeValue / StaticList

SEMAN­ STRING If the VALUE_TYPE is AttributeValue, in other words if the variable/

TIC_TYPE parameter points to a column/attribute, this field should contain the
same semantic type as the column/attribute (see BIMC_DIMEN­
SION_VIEW.SEMANTIC_TYPE).

If you have other value types, the following mapping from

VALUE_TYPE to SEMANTIC_TYPE exists.

● Currency -> currencyCode

● UnitOfMeasure -> unitOfMeasure
● Date -> date

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Column Key Type Description

VALUE_AT­ STRING In case VALUE_TYPE = AttributeValue, this field together with

TRIBUTE
BIMC_VARIABLE.VALUE_ENTITY defines how to populate the value
help. The following cases are possible:

● Column BIMC_VARIABLE.VALUE_ENTITY does not exist or is

not filled in. In this case the column contains the attribute name
of the current view (CUBE_NAME) that determines the values
and therefore also the value help. In case aliases are defined for
the underlying attribute this field contains the alias. You have to
read from BIMC_DIMENSION_VIEW where COLUMN_NAME =
<VALUE_ATTRIBUTE>. In that record of BIMC_DIMEN­
SION_VIEW the field COLUMNOBJECT_NAME gives you the
view and the field DIMENSION_COLUMN_NAME the column to
build the value help upon. (Depending on whether an attribute
view is joined by inner or outer join, the name of the view and the
column might be different).
● Column BIMC_VARIABLE.VALUE_ENTITY exists and is filled in.
You simply build the value help by reading from the table or view
that you find in column BIMC_VARIABLE.VALUE_ENTITY (the
column to use is stored in BIMC_VARIABLE.VALUE_ATTRIB­
UTE).

VALUE_ENTITY STRING Contains the name of the catalog view or the catalog table for the
value help of the variable. Only relevant if BIMC_VARIA­
BLE.VALUE_TYPE = AttributeValue.

VALUE_EN­ STRING Use this name to query BIMC_DIMENSION_VIEW in order to find out
Üe�‚ˇ„UBÖ"€tE\ÑÁfë_²ßj!‹ the description field of VALUE_ATTRIBUTE. If such a description field
TORY_FQN exists, it should be displayed in the value help in addition to the
VALUE_ATTRIBUTE. Contains null if the value entity is a pure catalog
object.

DESC_ATTRIB­ STRING Only relevant if column BIMC_VARIABLE.VALUE_ENTITY is filled in.

UTE Contains the description for the column in VALUE_ATTRIBUTE.
Tools should read both columns (VALUE_ATTRIBUTE and DESC_AT­
TRIBUTE) and show them to the end user in the value help. In case
no description column is defined for VALUE_ATTRIBUTE, the column
is null.

SELEC­ STRING What kind of selections are possible - same values as the EMF enu­
TION_TYPE
meration:

● SingleValue: only a single value may be entered (multiple single

values if MULTILINE=1 in addition)
● Interval: an interval with from (>=) and to (<=) may be entered
(multiple intervals if MULTILINE=1 in addition)
● Range: the complete set of select options are supported: ( =, != ,
<, <=, >, >=, [] - interval, ![] - not in interval, (not) contains pat­
tern/like)

MULTILINE INT 0=false; 1=true

MANDATORY INT 0=false; 1=true

ORDER INT Order in which to present the variables on the UI

DESCRIPTION STRING Description of the variable or parameter

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26 PUBLIC BIMC Tables and Views
 Column Key Type Description

DE­ STRING Default value of the variable. If you use an expression like "da­
FAULT_VALUE tae(now())" as a default value, the values will be calculated when the
query "MDX select from BIMC_VARIABLES" is executed.

IS_EXPRES­ INT 0=false: the default value is a constant

SION
1=true: the default value is an expression

Clients do not need to read this field because a default expression is

evaluated into a constant at the time when the query "MDX select
from BIMC_VARIABLES" is executed.

RANGE_DE­ INT 0=false: no range default values exist, only a single-valued default
FAULTS_EXIST
value in column DEFAULT_VALUE or no default value.

1=true: range default values exist in table BIMC_VARIA­

BLE_RANGE_DEFAULTS. In this case DEFAULT_VALUE must con­
tain the empty string.

HIERAR­ STRING Available from SPS10 onwards. If this field is filled in, a hierarchical
value help must be provided. This field contains the name of the hier­
CHY_VIEW
archy view to be used for the value help.

Note
The hierarchy view is based on the column view stored in
VALUE_ENTITY. If a parameter mapping is defined from the cur­
rent view to VALUE_ENTITY, this parameter mapping needs to be
applied to the hierarchy view as well.

HIERAR­ STRING Available from SPS11 onwards; contains the name of the hierarchy in
CHY_NAME addition to HIERARCHY_VIEW. Is filled in only if HIERARCHY_VIEW is
filled in.

CON­ STRING Available from SPS12 onwards; contains the full qualified name of the
çÃS KÐN.£’˚{8ù1.˙2€–“Ų scalar function for converting the values of this field into the external
çÃSKÐN.£−˚e8á1>˙+€Łłåázä format.
TION

CON­ STRING Available from SPS12 onwards; contains the full qualified name of the
çÃS KÐN.£’˚{8ù1.˙2€›łÅ² scalar function for converting the values of this field into the internal
çÃSKÐN.£−˚e8á1>˙+€Łłåázä format.
TION

CONVER­ INTEGER Equals 1, if the internal or external conversion functions are order
çÃSKÜN3£−˚{8â13;} preserving and 0, if not.
çÃS˙KÐN.£ł˚t8ÿ1$˙>€–⁄åôzä
ING

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BIMC Tables and Views PUBLIC 27
Column Key Type Description

HIERAR­ STRING Available from SPS11onwards; contains the node style to be used for
CHY_NODE_ST the hierarchy assigned to the variable if you have hierarchy filter vari­
YLE ables. It Is filled in with "null" in case the variable is not used as hier­
archy filter variable. The possible values and implications for clients
are:

Table 10:
Value Syntax for nodes Value to pass to the
hierarchy node col­
(hierarchy mem­
umn
bers)

PARENT_CHILD [Attribute].[Value], Value [Smith]

for example [Em­
ployee].[Smith]

LEVEL_NAME [Level Attribute]. [Level Attribute].

[Value], for example
[Value], for example
[Customer].[Coun­
[Customer].[Coun­
try]
try]

NAME_ONLY [Level Attribute]. Value, for example

[Value], for example
Country
[Customer].[Coun­
try]

NAME_PATH Currently not appli­ N/A

cable for hierarchy

joins

NULL No node syntax is N/A

used, just single val­
ues.

HIERAR­ INT Available from SPS11 onwards: If the value is a positive number, only
CHY_LEVEL_N nodes from this level may be used via the value help. If the value is
UMBER NULL, all nodes can be selected via the value help.

2.13 View BIMC_ALL_VARIABLES_VIEW

This view fully corresponds to BIMC_VARIABLE and includes a privilege check. It can be used to securely read
all variables, including the unassigned ones.

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28 PUBLIC BIMC Tables and Views
2.14 Table BIMC_VARIABLE_RANGE_DEFAULTS

The table contains the range defaults for variables and parameters. The column
BIMC_VARIABLE.RANGE_DEFAULTS_EXIST = 1 indicates that range defaults exist. In case expressions like
"datae(now())" are used as a default value, the values (LOW and HIGH) are calculated when the query "MDX
select from BIMC_VARIABLE_RANGE_DEFAULTS" is executed.

Table 11:
Column Key Type Description

CATA­ Yes STRING REPO 1: Package of the view

LOG_NAME
HDI: <Runtime container>.<Namespace> for example, RTC1.sap.fi.
In case of freestyle names just <Runtime container> for example,
RTC1

SCHEMA_NAM STRING Deployment schema. For XSC, it is be filled in with the deployment
E schema _SYS_BIC. For XSA or HDI, it contains the name of the run­
time container.

CUBE_NAME Yes STRING Name of the cube or view

QUALI­ STRING Available from SPS11 (for HDI). Contains the full qualified name (in­
FIED_NAME cluding name space if configured) of an HDI based view - for exam­
ple, sap.fi::CostCenter. Contains null for Repo 1 views.

VARIA­ Yes STRING Name of the variable or parameter

BLE_NAME

LINE_NUMBER Yes INT Line number in case the value is multi-line enabled

LOW STRING Low value

LOW_IS_EX­ INT 0=false: the low value is a constant

PRESSION
1=true: the low value is an expression

Clients don not need to read this field, because a low expression is
evaluated into a constant at the time of the "MDX select from
BIMC_VARIABLE_RANGE_DEFAULTS " query.

HIGH STRING High value

HIGH_IS_EX­ INT 0=false: the high value is a constant

PRESSION
1=true: the high value is an expression

Clients do not need to read this field, because a high expression is

evaluated into a constant at the time of the "MDX select from
BIMC_VARIABLE_RANGE_DEFAULTS " query.

OPTION STRING Range option (EQ, BT, LE, GE, LT, GT, CP, NL [= IS NULL] )

SIGN STRING I for "including", E for "excluding". NULL is interpreted as including.

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BIMC Tables and Views PUBLIC 29
2.15 Table BIMC_VARIABLE_ASSIGNMENT

This tables contains the assignment of variables to Model elements.

Table 12:
Column Key Type Description

CATA­ Yes STRING Package of the cube

LOG_NAME

CUBE_NAME Yes STRING Name of the cube

QUALI­ STRING Available from SPS11 onwards (for HDI). Contains the full qualified
FIED_NAME name (including name space if configured) of an HDI based view - for
example, sap.fi::CostCenter. Contains null for Repo 1 views.

VARIA­ Yes STRING Name of the variable or parameter

BLE_NAME

MODEL_ELE­ Yes STRING Name of the assigned model element:

MENT_NAME
● The unique name of the hierarchy (HIERAR­
CHY_UNIQUE_NAME) in case the variable needs to be applied to
the underlying hierarchy view.
● Attribute or alias name for attribute filter variables, including cal­
culated attributes. This name has to be used as a column name
in the WHERE clause for passing down the values to the engine.
This case is relevant whenever PLACEHOLDER_NAME = null. In
this case, MODEL_ELEMENT_TYPE = 'Attribute'

Note
If you have CDS views, this column is filled in with the name of the
hierarchy or attribute. Clients should not rely on other model ele­
ment names because this is considered internal (private) informa­
tion of the view. If you have hierarchies, the name needs to be in­
terpreted because the clients have to access the corresponding
hierarchy view which has its own set of parameters.

● Measure name for target currency and conversion date varia­

bles. In this case, MODEL_ELEMENT_TYPE = 'Measure'
● Measure name (of the calculated measure) for formula varia­
bles. In this case, MODEL_ELEMENT_TYPE = 'Measure'
● Calculated attribute name (for formula variables in calculated
attributes). In this case, MODEL_ELEMENT_TYPE = 'Calculate­
dAttribute'
● Empty (SPACE) in case the variable is mapped to a script, or for
filter and rank threshold parameter in calc views.
● Name of the variable in case the variable is mapped to a variable
in a model on the lower level

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30 PUBLIC BIMC Tables and Views
 Column Key Type Description

MODEL_ELE­ STRING Type of the assigned model element:

MENT_TYPE
● Hierarchy
● Attribute (Filter Variable)

Note
In the case of CDS views, this column is filled in only for hierar­
chies and variables. Clients should not rely on other model ele­
ment types because this is considered internal (private) informa­
tion of the view. For hierarchies, the type needs to be interpreted
because clients have to access the corresponding hierarchy view
which has its own set of parameters.

● CalculatedAttribute = Formula variable

● Measure = Formula or currency conversion variable
● Script
● Variable (mapped to parameters of underlying views)
● Empty (SPACE) in case of filter and rank threshold parameters
in calc views.

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BIMC Tables and Views PUBLIC 31
Column Key Type Description

PLACE­ STRING If this field is filled in, the value for the parameter has to be passed to
HOLDER_NAM
the view (or the hierarchy view in case MODEL_ELEMENT_TYPE =
E
'Hierarchy') by using of the PLACEHOLDER syntax. In that case, the
value of the field contains the placeholder name. The SQL for access­
ing the (hierarchy) view will look like this:

SELECT ... FROM "myview"( PLACEHOLDER =

('<PLACEHOLDER_NAME_1>', 'D'), 'PLACEHOLDER'
= ('<PLACEHOLDER_NAME_2>', '1')) WHERE ...
Note from SP09 on we support multi-value parameters. For such a
parameter, BIMC_VARIABLE-MULTILINE = 1 (true). Multiple values
have to be put in the PLACEHOLDER clause as follows depending on
the data type:

SELECT ... FROM "schema"."view" ('PLACE­

HOLDER' = ('$$MULTI_VALUE_PARAM_NUMERICAL$$',
'Value1, Value2'))

Note
Use the SELECT statement above for numerical typed parame­
ters.

Use the following SELECT statement for string typed parameters

(the string values need to be escaped by a double quotes (')):

SELECT ... FROM "schema"."view" ('PLACE­

HOLDER' = ('$$MULTI_VALUE_PARAM_STRING$$', '
' 'Value1' ', ' 'Value2' ' ')) //no spaces be­
tween the apostrophes

Note
Even a single value has to be escaped with a triple apostrophe in
case the parameter is multi-valued.

If the field PLACEHOLDER_NAME is empty, the values for the param­

eter have to be passed via the WHERE clause of the SELECT state­
ment.

● If you have hierarchy views (MODEL_ELEMENT_TYPE = 'Hierar­

chy'), the parameters must be passed to the underlying hierar­
chy view
● If a placeholder appears twice in the assignment table, it may
appear only once as placeholder in the SQL statement.

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32 PUBLIC BIMC Tables and Views
 Column Key Type Description

HISTORY_PA­ INT 0=false, 1=true

RAMETER
1=true indicates the user input of this parameter must be used as a
time stamp for the AS OF part of the query. Compose the query as
follows:

Code Syntax

SELECT ... FROM <View> AS OF UTCTIMESTAMP

<User Input for the History Parameter>

2.16 View BIMC_VARIABLE_VIEW

A view combining the fields from the variable tables BIMC_VARIABLE_RANGE_DEFAULTS and
BIMC_VARIABLE_ASSIGNMENT.

Related Information

Table BIMC_VARIABLE_RANGE_DEFAULTS [page 29]

Table BIMC_VARIABLE_ASSIGNMENT [page 30]

2.17 Table BIMC_VARIABLE_MAPPING

This table contains the mapping of variables, parameters, or attributes to their value help views. Clients read
from this table to find out how parameters and variables have to be filled in when querying the value help
(target) view.

Table 13:
Column Key Type Description

CATA­ Yes STRING REPO 1: Package of the view; HDI: <Runtime container>.<Name­
LOG_NAME space>, for example, RTC1.sap.fi; In case of freestyle names, just
<Runtime container>, for example, RTC1.

SCHEMA_NAM STRING Deployment schema or runtime container of the view

E

CUBE_NAME Yes STRING Name of the cube

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BIMC Tables and Views PUBLIC 33
Column Key Type Description

QUALI­ STRING Available from SPS11 (for HDI). Contains the full qualified name (in­
FIED_NAME cluding name space if configured) of an HDI based view - for exam­
ple, sap.fi::CostCenter. Contains null for Repo 1 views.

MAP­ Yes STRING Type of mapping:

PING_TYPE
● VALUE_ENTITY: the mapping target is the value (help) entity of
a variable or parameter (from BIMC_VARIABLE.VALUE_ENTITY)
● COLUMNOBJECT_NAME: the target is the value (help) entity of
an attribute (from BIMC_DIMENSION_VIEW.COLUMNOB­
JECT_NAME)

VARIA­ Yes STRING ● If MAPPING_TYPE = 'VALUE_ENTITY': name of the variable or

BLE_NAME parameter for which the value help view is defined
● If there is another MAPPING_TYPE: empty string

ATTRIB­ Yes STRING ● If MAPPING_TYPE = 'COLUMNOBJECT_NAME': name of the at­

UTE_NAME tribute for which the value help view is defined
● If there is another MAPPING_TYPE: empty string

TARGET_VIEW Yes STRING Catalog name of the value help view

TARGET_VARI­ Yes STRING Name of the target variable or parameter of the value help view. It
ABLE_NAME may be left empty (empty string) if the mapping points directly to an
attribute name (instead of a variable).

TARGET_AT­ Yes STRING ● Empty string, if TARGET_VARIABLE_NAME denotes a parame­

¼Tï?¡˜õ`_i² ter.
UTE_NAME ● The target attribute or column in case TARGET_VARIA­
BLE_NAME denotes a variable or the mapping is directly linked
to an attribute name. You have to filter this attribute via the
WHERE clause of the SELECT statement when accessing the
target view.

TARGET_DE­ STRING Name of the default value of the target variable or parameter of the
FAULT_VALUE
TARGET_VIEW. Null in case no default is defined or the mapping is di­
rectly linked to an attribute name (instead of a variable).

This value must only be used, if no CONSTANT_VALUE is defined

and no value has yet been entered by the user for SOURCE_VARIA­
BLE_NAME. Only in that case the TARGET_DEFAULT_VALUE has to
be passed to the target view.

SOURCE_VARI­ STRING Name of the source variable or parameter of the cube or null in case
ABLE_NAME of constant mapping, that means if CONSTANT_VALUE is filled in. If
the value for this variable has already been entered by the user, the
value has to be passed on to the target view.

CON­ STRING Constant value to be used for the target variable or parameter. Null in
STANT_VALUE case SOURCE_VARIABLE_NAME is filled in - in that case, the con­
stant value has to be passed on to the target view.

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34 PUBLIC BIMC Tables and Views
 Column Key Type Description

TARGET_PLA­ STRING ● Placeholder name to be used in the SQL statement for the TAR­
?lW>œ½— GET_VIEW - see BIMC_VARIABLE_ASSIGNMENT.PLACE­
HOLDER_NAM HOLDER_NAME in case TARGET_VARIABLE_NAME denotes a
E parameter.
● Null in case TARGET_VARIABLE_NAME denotes a variable or is
empty.

IS_EXPRES­ INT ● 0=false: the target default value is a constant

SION ● 1=true: the target default value is an expression

Clients do not need to read this field because a default expression is

evaluated into a constant when the query MDX select from
BIMC_VARIABLE_MAPPING is executed.

2.18 Table BIMC_VARIABLE_VALUE

A table containing the static values allowed for the variable, if BIMC_VARAIBLE.VALUE_TYPE = 'StaticList'. In
the modeler, you can provide a list of names and descriptions for these types of variables.

Table 14:
Column Key Type Description

CATA­ Yes STRING REPO 1: Package of the view; HDI: <Runtime container>.<Name­
LOG_NAME space>, for example, RTC1.sap.fi; In case of freestyle names, just
<Runtime container>, for example, RTC1.

SCHEMA_NAM STRING Deployment schema or runtime container of the view

E

CUBE_NAME Yes STRING Name of the cube

QUALI­ STRING Available from SPS11 onwards (for HDI). Contains the full qualified
name (including name space if configured) of an HDI based view - for
FIED_NAME
example, sap.fi::CostCenter. Contains null for Repo 1 views.

VARIA­ Yes STRING Name of the variable

BLE_NAME

ORDER Yes INT Order in which to present the variables on the user interface

NAME STRING Technical name of the static list value

DESCRIPTION STRING Description of the static list value - the text IDs for these descriptions
are defined by %V_<Variable Name>%<Static Value Name>.

The following columns need to be requested to get repository texts in column DESCRIPTION:

Table 15:
Column

CUBE_NAME

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BIMC Tables and Views PUBLIC 35
Column

CATALOG_NAME

VARIABLE_NAME

NAME

For example, if you have an attribute in the analytic view containing 'A' for actuals and 'P' for planning data, you
could define a "ValueType" variable of type "Static List" and provide the following entries in the list:

Table 16:
Name Description

P Planned values

A Actual values

Then the clients should render a dropdown list for entering just one of these two values at query execution
time. The Name value is passed on to the engine as filter value.

2.19 Table BIMC_VARIABLE_ODBO

This is a virtual table which retrieves information from the BIMC_VARIABLE_VIEW view. It is a schema rowset
table containing metadata about given variables. The structure of the table closely corresponds to the
schema rowset table for variables in BW.

2.20 BIMC_SOURCES

This view is available only for HDI-based calc views and contains the XML source code of the view.

Table 17:

Column Key Type Description

CATA­ STRING <Runtime container>.<Namespace>, for example, RTC1.sap.fi; In

LOG_NAME case of freestyle names just <Runtime container> for example, RTC1.

SCHEMA_NAM Yes STRING Runtime container of the view

E

CUBE_NAME STRING Name of the view

QUALI­ Yes STRING Full qualified name (including namespace, if configured) of an HDI
FIED_NAME based view - for example, sap.fi::CostCenter.

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36 PUBLIC BIMC Tables and Views
 Column Key Type Description

SOURCE BLOB XML definition of the view

The view BIMC_SOURCES is based on the new table BIMC_ALL_SOURCES and filters the result according to
the SQL privileges of the user.

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BIMC Tables and Views PUBLIC 37
3 Consuming Views With Parameters

3.1 Main Variable and Parameter Types

The objective of SAP HANA variables and input parameters is to make the HANA information models more
dynamic by allowing parameter and column filtering via variables. The values for these variables are
determined before executing the view - typically, by asking the user to enter the value manually or to choose
one from a drop-down list. Alternatively, the SAP HANA engine can derive the variables by reading their values
from a separate table.

Definitions

● Variable: a variable is a directive for view consumers to filter certain columns. For BI clients, such as
Advanced Analytics for Office, this means to produce a variable user interface. On this user interface users
can enter filter values they want to use for the current view execution.
Variables define filters on an attribute of the view. Therefore they always have to be assigned to an
attribute. The variable values are passed to the engine via the WHERE-clause of the SQL statement.
Variables are not known to the engine but only to clients like Data Preview, MDX, Advanced Analysis for
Office or BO Explorer. It is the task of the client to convert the user input into a WHERE-clause when
accessing the data.
● Parameter (Input Parameter): It is used to parameterize the view execution - for example, as a part of filter
or calculated column expressions or to specify the target currency of a conversion. It is handled by the
view consumers in the same manner as variables, it is displayed on the variable UI.
A parameter defines the internal parameterization of the view. This means that the engine needs to know
it and uses the parameter value during the execution - for example, to calculate a formula for a calculated
measure. The parameter value is passed to the engine via the PLACEHOLDER clause of the SQL
statement. At runtime a parameter can be filled by one single value.
● Derived parameter: a parameter the value of which is derived automatically at run time without manual
user input. For the end user there is no distinction between variables and parameters. Both appear as
input fields on the variable pop up.

The distinction between variables and parameters exists only in the modeler. When it comes to consumption,
there is no difference between the two variable types. In the next sections the term "variable" also means
parameter, if not explicitly mentioned otherwise.

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38 PUBLIC Consuming Views With Parameters
3.2 SAP HANA SQL Syntax for Passing Parameters and
Variables

Client applications pass the entered values for variables and parameters to the engine as follows:

● Variables: the client converts them into fragments of the WHERE clause. Variables can be identified by
BIMC_VARIABLE_VIEW table, column PLACEHOLDER_NAME = null.
● Parameters: the client converts them into fragments of the PLACEHOLDER clause. Parameters can be
identified by BIMC_VARIABLE_VIEW table, column PLACEHOLDER_NAME != null

If a placeholder appears twice in the assignment table, it may occur only once as a placeholder in the SQL
statement.

Sample Code

PLACEHOLDER clause syntax:

...SELECT ... FROM "schema"."view" ('PLACEHOLDER' = ('$$PARAMETER_1$$',
'Test'), 'PLACEHOLDER' = ('$$PARAMETER_2$$', '1'))

Use the following select statement for string-typed parameters (the string values need to be escaped by
double apostrophe '). If the parameter is multi-valued then even a single value has to be escaped by a triple
apostrophe.
...SELECT ... FROM "schema"."view" ('PLACEHOLDER' = ('$$MULTI_VALUE_PARAM_STRING$
$', '''Value1'',''Value2'''))

Multiple single values are supported for some parameters. They have to be put in the PLACEHOLDER clause
as follows depending on the data type. Use the following SELECT statement for numerical typed parameters:

Sample Code

...SELECT ... FROM "schema"."view" ('PLACEHOLDER' = ('$

$MULTI_VALUE_PARAM_NUMERICAL$$', 'Value1, Value2'))

3.3 SAP HANA MDX Syntax for Passing Parameters and

Variables

SAP HANA supports the use of variables in MDX queries. The variables are an SAP-specific enhancement to
standard MDX syntax.

You can specify values for all mandatory variables that are defined in SAP HANA studio for various modeling
entities. The following example illustrates how to declare SAP HANA variables and their values:

Sample Code

MDX
Select
From [SALES_DATA_VAR]

SAP HANA Analytics Catalog (BIMC Views) Reference

Consuming Views With Parameters PUBLIC 39
 Where [Measures].[M2_1_M3_CONV]
SAP VARIABLES [VAR_VAT] including 10,
[VAR_K2] including 112,
[VAR_TARGET_CURRENCY] including 'EUR',

An MDX SELECT statement in SAP HANA enables you to send values for variables defined within modeling
views.

Analytic and calculation views may contain variables bound to specific attributes. When calling the view, you
can assign values to those variables and use them to filter results, for example.

SAP HANA supports an extension to MDX where you can assign values to variables defined in views by adding
a SAP VARIABLES clause in your select statement. Here is the syntax for a SELECT statement:

3.4 Default Values

A variable or a parameter can have a default value which is used in the following cases:

● For prefilling the entry field in the variable UI (prompt UI)

● If a parameter is not set in an SQL query, the default value is taken over by the engine at query runtime.

The mandatory flag can be set irrespective of the default value.

It can make sense to define a mandatory parameter which is prefilled in the variable UI. Mandatory in the view
model means semantically mandatory - the data may be inconsistent, if the parameter is not provided
because the data is then aggregated across SAP-client values (for example, multiple tenants). From the engine
point of view, the parameter is technically mandatory if no default value is provided and the mandatory flag is
set in the modeler.

In case the parameter is not mandatory and no default value is provided, the calc engine uses the empty string
('') as parameter (default) value.

The variable UI must enforce a user entry for a (semantically) mandatory variable even if a default value exists.
For example, if the user deletes the proposal for a mandatory variable in the variable UI, the UI displays a
warning message prompting the user to enter a value for the variable. In the end, the entered value is sent to
the engine.

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40 PUBLIC Consuming Views With Parameters
3.5 Expressions as Special Default Values

You can use expressions as special default values. Those expressions are specified in the variable or
parameter wizard expression editor, for example date(Now()).

For a metadata request to the BIMC_VARIABLE table, the default value must be calculated and not read from
the table. For example:

● allow "today" as default value for variables or parameters of type Date

● allow a formula as default value (for example, $$CurrentYear$$ -2)

Note
If both the default value and the default expression are filled in, which should not happen, the default value
takes precedence. In case the default value is an expression, it will be calculated at the time the
BIMC_VARIABLE_VIEW table is read and it will be returned in the field DEFAULT_VALUE. In that case the
consumer still has as to use the MDX prefix.

3.6 Value Help

Value help consisting of a list of values is provided wherever possible. The way to retrieve this list depends on
the value type of the variable.

Static List of Values

A static list of values can be read from table BIMC_VARIABLE_VALUE.

Currency Values

The currency codes and their texts can be read from the tables TCURC and TCURT. However, the database
schema in which to look for the TCUR* tables is not fixed but chosen by the model developer and stored at the
header level of the information model. There may be even several database schemas containing the TCUR*
tables. During the deployment of the information models the default schema is stored in
BIMC_CUBES.DEFAULT_SCHEMA. The clients need to read the schema from there to make sure they are
accessing the right TCUR* tables.

To read all currencies and texts with the language, use the following SELECT statement:

Sample Code

SELECT TOP 50000 distinct M.WAERS as "CurrencyCode", T.LTEXT as

"Description", T.KTEXT as "ShortDescription"

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Consuming Views With Parameters PUBLIC 41
 FROM "SYSTEM"."TCURC" as M left outer join "SYSTEM"."TCURT" as T
on ( M.WAERS = T.WAERS and M.MANDT = T.MANDT and
T.SPRAS = (SELECT SESSION_CONTEXT( 'LOCALE_SAP' ) FROM "DUMMY") )

Note
It is recommended not to use the session client (mandt = (SELECT SESSION_CONTEXT( 'CLIENT' ) FROM
"DUMMY") because you can define different clients for the currency conversions in a single view.

UnitOfMeasure Values

Unit of measures should be treated as currencies. The handling with respect to schema and client is exactly
the same. (Tables T006, T006A).

To read all units and texts with the language, use the following SELECT statement:

Sample Code

SELECT TOP 50000 distinct M.MSEHI as "UnitOfMeasure", T.MSEH3 as

"UnitOfMeasureCommercialName" , T.MSEHL as "Description"
FROM "SYSTEM"."T006" as M left outer join "SYSTEM"."T006A" as T
on ( M.MSEHI = T.MSEHI and M.MANDT = T.MANDT and
T.SPRAS = (SELECT SESSION_CONTEXT( 'LOCALE_SAP' ) FROM "DUMMY") )

Date Values

Date values display a date selection dialog (either pass as SQL date in the form YYYY-MM-DD or ERP CHAR 8
date).

Dynamic Attribute Value Lists

The attribute to generate the dynamic value help list can be derived from
BIMC_VARIABLES.VALUE_ATTRIBUTE. As the value lists can be derived from an attribute of the model itself
or a referenced model or table, the following cases need to be distinguished:

● BIMC_VARIABLES.VALUE_ENTITY is empty or does not exist.

In this case, read the list of values from the column view of that attribute - get the column view name from
BIMC_DIMENSION_VIEW.COLUMNOBJECT_NAME. The column view is the current view itself or the
dimension view (reused attribute view or calculation view of type dimension) the attribute comes from.
If you have a calc view, it may have parameters as well. In that case, you need to apply the parameter
mapping, which is available in the table BIMC_VARIABLE_MAPPING.
● BIMC_VARIABLES.VALUE_ENTITY contains the name of a table or a view. In that case use the provided
table and the column BIMC_VARIABLES.VALUE_ATTRIBUTEto query for the value help.

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42 PUBLIC Consuming Views With Parameters
 Note
In case the view for the value help is the same view as the current one, pass all variables or parameters
the user has already entered in the UI to it. This helps you avoid errors like "Mandatory parameter not
set" when executing the value help select and ensures that fewer values are presented in the value help
(only those that fit the parameter values that have already been entered). To avoid the error
"Mandatory parameter not set", it is recommended to use default values for all parameters.

3.7 Passing and Mapping of Variables and Parameters

The most common scenario for passing and mapping of variables or parameters between view models is when
a calculation view is built on top of other view models that have variables. You can pick variables from the
underlying models and take them over to define variables on the calculation view. You can map one variable of
the edited calc view to several variables of the underlying view models that are reused as data sources in the
edited calc view.

Passing Variables

Parameter or placeholder variables: these variables can be passed on to the underlying views because they are
mandatory in most cases.

Attribute or filter variables: these variables cannot be passed down because they are not known by the engine.

Parameter Mapping

To cover all use cases, it is possible to define a mapping from a parameter or variable of the main view to a
parameter or variable of the external value help view. If the user has already filled in parameters or variables on
the variable UI, the client will proceed as follows:

● Send the corresponding values to the mapped target parameters of the value help (or dimension) view if
the mapping is to a parameter.
● Filter the attributes of the value help (or dimension) view accordingly if the mapping is to a variable (or an
attribute).

All information needed for querying the external value help view is provided in the table
BIMC_VARIABLE_MAPPING - the clients do not need to read the BIMC_VARIABLE table again for the external
value help view.

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Consuming Views With Parameters PUBLIC 43
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44 PUBLIC Important Disclaimers and Legal Information
SAP HANA Analytics Catalog (BIMC Views) Reference
Important Disclaimers and Legal Information PUBLIC 45
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